GReddy has a long-standing history of turning out probably the most well-known cars, both here and in Japan, but their latest 2013 Scion FR-S is much more a labor of love than just another work project. What started simply as an opportunity to showcase at Scion’s SEMA booth last fall turned into something far more exciting: it was their chance to build a dream FR-S for Formula Drift pro Ken Gushi. GReddy put this car together in a matter of weeks and entirely around the DL. We didn’t have any idea it existed until the Scion SEMA preview party in the event it took us completely by surprise, and after that just about the entire world the days following on social media. Between our R&D staff and Ken Gushi, we jotted down notes on what we all wanted in a racecar, explains Mike Chung, Planning Manager for GReddy. Setting it aside from [Ken’s] current drift FR-S, we all decided it would be best to go with the most iconic Toyota engine we could think of: the 2JZ-GTE. The 2JZ powerplant laid the building blocksjust about anything you pull from their extensive catalog will certainly deliver solid power gains. They were even set to race a Supra at LeMans but a car accident during testing before the race killed that plan quickly; Ken Gushi also has a lot of experience piloting 2J-powered cars-his FD Asia competition car is a Toyota Chaser, in the late ’90s. What people know and love about the 2JZ is that it’s the kind of engine that can make tons of reliable power without having to worry about stressing it significantly. Since the discharge of the FR-S, there’s been much debate tossed around as to whether or otherwise not the FA20 is indeed the perfect engine for your car-and largely, it is-but we’ve seen successful swaps including the EJ-powered GReddy drift car or domestic LS-swapped. But as the 2JZ is one of those infamous engines, it makes perfect sense to wish to test it all out in one of Toyota’s most popularthe best turbo for any high horsepower 2JZ setup like this car.

According to how GReddy describes the process fitting the 2JZ into an FR-S isn’t a drop-in affair but it’s not terribly difficult: The FR-S engine bay is actually pretty big, says Mike. Besides clearing more room for your transmission bell housing and round the ends from the valve cover, it’s a good fit. There’s really just one position you can place the front-sump 2JZ-GTE in the car without needing to make extensive modifications for the firewall. Custom engine mounts are a given, and with a lot room within the engine bay, the option to utilize a larger turbo and intake manifold is really a choice GReddy would gladly take up. That’s why we opted for a bottom-mounted turbo, so we may make a simple, large downpipe, he adds. The base engine itself has been stroked and built to 3.4-liters total, and links up to a four-speed G-Force GSR transmission that has been upgraded with the OS Giken RC3 triple-plate Super and clutch Lock limited-slip differential. The one thing keeping this car from firing up is the possible lack of an engine harness, which, by the time you are doing read this, will finally fire up thanks to a MoTeC M600 engine management system, as of press time.this specific setup is perfect for roughly 700 horsepower, a number that isn’t way too hard for a 2JZ-GTE to reach and it is quite mellow compared to the plethora of 1000 builds already completed. The main goal is a lot more than to provide a high powered competition car; this really is Ken Gushi’s dream build and as such are able to stand up to any racing challenge he chooses to compete in, be it drift, road racing, tarmac racing or even quarter-mile action.